GTS extends Eastern European network footprint

Central and Eastern European carrier GTS Central Europe said Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of Romanian network operator Datek, boosting its footprint in the corporate network services market in the country and the region.

In addition to providing standard telecoms services, Datek offers data transfer, infrastructure development, systems integration and serves as the main regional partner for numerous global carriers and financial institutions. GTS said it will roll Datek into its existing Romanian operations, creating a combined business with total annual revenues exceeding €25m, allowing it to emphasize the sale of data and managed services to corporate and carrier customers.

Owned by a consortium of private equity investors, GTS has an extensive regional fibre optic network throughout the CEE region with network extensions to neighbouring countries such as Austria, the Balkans, the Baltic States, Russia, Turkey and the Ukraine. Datek brings 400 route kilometres of fibre to the table.

Romania has been hit hard by the economic crisis, but analyst forecasts suggest the market is slowly moving back on track with the fastest-growing segments expected to be VoIP, mobile data and fixed broadband.

Analyst house Pyramid research notes that the Romanian fixed broadband market has gotten a boost by growth in DSL and FTTB in particular, with the fixed telecom market accounting for 37 per cent of total telecom service revenue in 2009 and set to grow at a local currency CAGR of 3.6 per cent between 2009 and 2014.